A blog about genealogy and thoughts about the various roots and branches of my family tree as well as the times in which my ancestors lived.Included are the West, White,and McFarland families.WARNING:DO NOT TAKE ALL OF MY FAMILY RECORDS AS GOSPEL. ALWAYS CONFIRM YOUR OWN RESEARCH!

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Monday, June 24, 2013

THE ESTATE OF JOSEPH ELLENWOOD PT1

This has been a great year again for me research wise. FamilySearch has
released a bunch of record images from New England states and I've
found a lot of documents involving my relatives. I'm learning things I might
never have found about my ancestors.

One of my recent finds has been the estate records for my 5x great grandfather
Joseph Ellenwood/Ellingwood. I don't have an exact date of death for Joseph but
the will and inventory were filed with the Hillsborough, NH Probate Court in
April of 1786 by his widow Sarah and his son Joseph. One of the things I learned
from it was that Joseph Sr. was a bricklayer, something that was not in either of
the Ellingwood genealogy books in my possession. Also, I was surprised to learn
the estate was valued under the British currency of pounds, shillings and pence.
Our young country hadn't adopted the dollar yet in 1786

I was puzzled by part of the document: the items on the inventory list followed by
a number and slash mark in the lines:

I'd never seen anything like that before, so I asked my friends on Facebook if
anyone knew what it meant, and Karen Packard Rhodes posted an excellent explanation:

It
is a unit price -- in shillings. The / means shillings. There were 20
shillings toa pound. So take the item "To a yoke of oxen 175/ to a
house 175/" 175+175=350. Divide 350 (shillings) by 20 (# of shillings in
a pound) and it comes out to 17.5. The .5 is half a pound, which is 10
shillings. Thus you get the 17 10 0 figure on the right. So it is a unit
price. For more information on old British money, see http://resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/moneyold.htm .

Here's the first part of my transcription. I'll discuss my thoughts on it in my next
post. My apologies for not being able to get the value column to stay in a straight
column:

Hillsborough SS. At a Court of Probate held at Amherst for said County on the Eighteenth day of April Anno Domini 1786.-Administration of the Estate of Joseph Ellenwood late of Lyndeborough in saidCounty Bricklayer dec. was granted to Sarah Ellenwood his widow and Joseph Ellenwood his Son with Joseph Herrick of Lyndeborough aforesaid husbandman jointly and severally gave Bond in the Sum of Five hundred Pounds for theirfaithful performance of that trust pursuant to Law.`~~~~~ Attest Saml Dana RegrAt the same time a warrant issued to Messrs. Nehemiah Rand and AmosWhittemore both of Lyndeborough in said Countyto take an Inventory of theEstate of the aforesaid Joseph Ellenwood who on the 15th day of August 1786made thee following return on Oath. Before Jon. Blanchard Judge of Probate Attest Saml Dana Regr "State of New Hampshire Hillsboro."An Inventory of the Estate of Joseph Ellenwood late of Lyndeboro. dec. shewn to us the Subscribers by Sarah and Joseph Ellenwood Admins. on said Estate.- Viz~~~~The real Estate appraised at £150~0~0To a Yoke of Oxen 175/ To a Horse 175/ £ 17~10~0 To two cows 130/ To a Cow 63/ 9~13~To Seven young Cattle 6~13~To 2 Swine 2~0~ To wearing apparel 1~10~To a feather bed and pillows 1~4~To Sheets and Pillow Cap ~9~To Coverlets and Blankets 1~0~0To a Bedstead and Cord 3/ a Chest 25/ 1~0~To 2 Table Cloths 6 towels ~7~6To a Loom and the harness 1~10~0To 3 spinning wheels 16/ to a Cart 40/ 2~16~To Bricklayers Tools 2/ Carpenters 10/ 1~6~ To one ax 3/ Cowbell 3/6, Stonehammer 3/6 0~10~To Butte and wedges 5/ to a frow 2/6 0~7~6To 27 ft of old iron4/10, 3 sickles 2/6 0~7~4To 35 ft of old chains 17/6 a plow 5/ 1~2~6To 4 hows 5/ to a barrow 9/ 0~14~0To a grindstone 1/ to a sled 3/ 0~3~0To scythes and tackling 10/ to hayfork 1/6 0~11~6To four thousand & half of shingles 1~7~0To baskets 5/6 yoke irons 2/ irons 1/6 0~7~0To 3 pewter platters and six plates 0~16~0To old pewter 3/coffee pot & tin ware 1/9 0~4~9To iron ware 20/ glass ware 3/ 1~11~0To old cans 7/6 wooden ware 6/ 0~16~6To earthenware 4/ to tables 3/ 0~7~0To old chest 4/ to chairs 8/ 0~12~0To a gun 15/ to a fire shovel tongs 2/6 0~17~6To barrels 3/6 to a sive 1/ 0~4~6To a teapot and cups 1/ to knives & forks 0~2~6To old books 4/ boxiron heaters 0~5~0To a sadelle & bridle 0~12~0To carts 0~2~6To a note of Benjamin Ellenwood dated Jan 30 1777 2~2~7 To a note of Thomas Ellsworth Dated Nov 10 1785 0~6~4 £ 62.4.6Exam'd for Saml Dana Regr Nehemiah RandJames Whittemore